Leonie Kootstra

Department:	Fashion&Branding
Project title:	More Than a Man
Website:	http://leoniekootstra.tumblr.com
Email:	leoniekootstra4@gmail.com

“Publicity is always about the future buyer. It offers him an image of himself made glamorous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell.”

John Berger, 1972

Sign

Nowadays there is a huge versatility in the representation of masculinity in men’s fashion photography. The largest men’s fashion magazines of the Netherlands are using ten different kinds of man types the reach their target group as well as possible.

Men’s fashion magazines

The five largest men’s fashion magazines of the Netherlands are all focussing on the modern man of 2010, the cosmopolitan man. The most interesting target group of the fashion industry.

Question

Does reach the huge versatility in the representation of masculinity in fashion photography of Dutch men’s fashion magazines their intended target group, the cosmopolitan man?

By doing research on the cosmopolitan men, many visions on the versatility in the representation of masculinity in men’s fashion photography came trough. A top ten of the leading man types shows which man types are getting the most attention of the cosmopolitan man. The interviews with the cosmopolitan men illustrate some key factors in fashion photography that can be used to reach this target group in the best possible way. These key factors might increase the attention of the cosmopolitan man more effectively.